2 Teens Leap to Their Deaths After Visiting Disney World

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Two teen-agers who had known each other about two months visited Walt Disney World and the Disney-MGM Studios, then left a note and leaped to their deaths from a 14th-floor balcony in their hotel, officials said today.

Jerry Heitzman, 17, of Tipp City, Ohio, and Christine Reutter, 18, of Kettering, Ohio, were killed late Tuesday when they hit the roof of the first-floor restaurant at the Howard Johnson at Walt Disney Village.

"They each left a suicide note that said they cared very deeply for one another, and that they wanted to live with each other for eternity," Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Solomons said.

"Since he was younger and she was to go into the Air Force in November, they didn't feel they could be together," said Andrea Carter, a friend of the Reutter family.

A friend told the Dayton Daily News that Reutter tried to kill herself with an overdose of pills nearly two years ago.

The pair's parents were unaware that they had traveled to Florida, investigators learned.

The teen-agers drove to Florida in Heitzman's pickup, checked into the hotel Saturday and were scheduled to check out Wednesday, Gainer said.